Today's New York Times has an article speculating that when you read on an ereader or tablet, your attention is likely to be diverted to other applications.

If you hit a dull patch in the book, can you resist the pull of YouTube, Twitter, or your email? Even if you're engaged in the book, Google may beckon to clarify a point in the book ("Essex? Where's that?") and next thing you know, 25 minutes have elapsed in surfing. Perhaps interesting, perhaps productive, but not what you sat down intending to do.

Many people I've spoken with have the impression that this sort of distraction is predictable, and that it is a greater problem when reading on a tablet computer, even compared to reading a print book with a computer nearby.

The data on this question are still thin, but I do know of one relevant study (Woody et al, 2011). Nearly 300 college students took part, each reading a chapter from an introductory psychology textbook in one of five formats: print textbook, printed text pages, printed manuscript in MS Word, electronic pdf file, or electronic textbook. Some students read in a laboratory, some at home, and everyone took a quiz on the chapter material after reading it.

The results showed that media format did not affect quiz grades. But students who read electronic media versions were more likely to respond to instant messages and email while reading, and were more likely to use social networking sites (Facebook/Myspace) while reading.

It's only one experiment, but this feels like an instance where the intuitions of the majority of people will end up according with data. Whether the extra level of distraction is really a problem remains to be seen; and it may well be that users (or software designers) come up with strategies to solve the problem, if it proves significant.

I wonder if the type of e-reader would limit some of this behavior. I have a nook simple touch e-reader that has very limited capabilities (it does not do apps or web surfing). I have an older nook, too, but because that have 3G as well as Wi-Fi, I did find myself wandering occasionally. The newer, more simple one has actually increased my output and my efficiency. I am able to more readily add notes at the press and drag of a finger. As a teacher of high school English, having these notes (and being able to access them on the device or its associated apps for the desktop or iPad) has been invaluable.

Rick, for what it's worth, lots of lab data indicate that there *is* a cost when we multitask.

Reply

Daniel Bruno

03/09/2012 11:58am

I would have to agree. I find that I can only do repetitive tasks (I.e. check multiple choice tests) while doing something else. If I want to assess essays or any other written work, I need a distraction-free environment so I can carry my threads of thinking through. Same goes for reading. If I multitask, I lose the narrative flow of whatever I am reading.

This is actually one of the reasons why I like the Kindle. It's difficult to do anything other than read on it. It does have a web browser, but it's very basic and very slow.

As technology gets better and cheaper, it become easier for devices to become 'smart' and have lots of different functions. But I hope they never do improve the web browser on the Kindle. I like the fact that it is a dedicated single-purpose ereader. I don't have a tablet but I can imagine it would be very difficult to concentrate whilst reading one - the temptations would be so great. I have this problem at the moment with my computer - sometimes it is hard to concentrate on a long piece of reading or writing whilst at the screen because there are so many other things I could be doing. So I have a programme on my computer called 'Freedom' which allows me to switch the internet off for a set amount of time. Perhaps, as computers get more powerful, we will have to come up with programmes like this which can temporarily make them less powerful.

@Daisy this is just the kind of thing I'm talking about. . .sometimes these strategies can be really simple--if I get an important phone call at work, I turn around in my chair, so that I won't be tempted to check my email!